Croatia's INA and Hungary's MOL discovered potential gas resources

Croatia's state oil group INA and Hungary's energy giant MOL discovered potential gas resources in a border region between the two countries, a statement said on Wednesday.

"Joint exploration project on the Croatian-Hungarian border resulted in a discovery of gas and condensate potentials on the field on the Croatian side of the contract area" in the north of the country, INA said in the statement. Measurements "indicated gas flow of 370,000 cubic meters per day and some condensate," it said. "The testing confirmed commercial gas reserves in the Croatian part of the exploration field" the statement said.

 INA and MOL will "focus on a development of the discovered field to enable putting it on stream and connecting to the gas infrastructure system." The project to jointly explore the Drava river basin, a border area between Croatia and Hungary, was launched in 2006 with INA and MOL being equal partners.

A year later, "significant oil and gas reserves were discovered on the Hungarian side of the border," the statement said. MOL is the major shareholder in the Croat group with a 47.16-percent stake. The Croatian government holds a 44.84-percent state. Croatia produces about 60 percent of its own natural gas, while the remaining 40 percent is imported from Russia.